Hackberry Emperor

I guess I was on a hot streak last spring with Hackberry Emperors, since here's another one. This picture isn't as good as this 1, but it's at least recognizable as a Hackberry Emperor. 

Hackberry Emperors are another species that rarely drinks the nectar that many butterflies rely on, instead getting most of their nourishment from sap and scat. Though I don't recall this happening to me, they'll also drink sweat off of us humans to get nutrients like sodium. On the few occasions that they do drink nectar from flowers they're considered poor pollinators because only their proboscis goes into the flower, greatly limiting the pollen they could pick up.

More info on these butterflies is here.

June 17, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 301010242, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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